by Jim Oberg, 1/29/06
Today, along with so many of my friends and neighbors, I am
terribly ashamed of my country. Daily
revelations about the actions of my government expose unspeakable things being
done in my name. The America I grew up
loving, I must admit, has become the purveyor of terrible horrors against the
world and our own citizens, and this regime is steadily depriving we, the
people, of our constitutional rights, our freedoms and our democratic process.
How did it happen that my country has become a torturer, and
even a defender publicly of our right to use torture in our âdefense’? Why has my country come to claim it our right
to preemptively and illegally invade and occupy other countries, even one that
was no imminent threat, killing thousands of innocents in the process? When did my country become unwilling to
respond swiftly with our aid and compassion when disaster strikes its own
citizens, as we saw in horror when Katrina struck with such fury? What has brought my country to establish a
network of secret prisons around the world, where unknown numbers may be held
without charge and with no way to monitor their treatment? How is it we can
allow our government to unlawfully spy upon any citizen without a warrant, and
to then boldly claim their unlimited authority to do anything they deem
necessary to âprotect’ us. Who
authorizes these crimes and who carries them out when I never, ever would
provide my assent for these horrific actions to be done in my name?
Across America, millions of us are now beginning to awaken
to the tragedy that has befallen our beloved country, a travesty brought upon
us by an illegitimate, unaccountable regime that has stolen elections and then
arrogantly claims a mandate to rule us with absolute disdain for all dissent
against their criminal agenda. Moving
inexorably towards the establishment of
a fascist theocracy that will rule us for generations, they enact daily a
program that enriches the few at the expense of most in the world, and place
their cronies in positions of power in every institution established to protect
us from corporate and governmental abuses.
Their global domination project drains our treasury, weakens our
military and undermines our ability to meet even the basic needs of our
citizens, while putting future generations into unimaginable debt. We are being taken over a cliff to our
material and moral doom by this regime, and many of us are simply not going to
take it any longer. It is time to act.
This Tuesday, George Bush delivers his State of the Union
address, and all across America, a new movement for change, the World Can’t
Wait: Drive out the Bush Regime, will gather many thousand of citizens to
proclaim that we in actual fact face a terrible state of emergency in this
country, and loudly demand that they STEP DOWN.
We will then, in towns and cities all across the country, drown out his
speech with noise of all kinds, music and bells and car horns and our angry
voices, calling on everyone to wake up to the danger we all face, and the
possibility of creating a new direction for our country. This regime clearly does not represent the
majority of Americans. It is time for us
all to get out of our homes, out from behind our TV and computer screens, make
ourselves visible in our unity, and demand that they stop this madness that has
overtaken our country.
We must say loudly and
with determination that it is time
for them to STEP DOWN, and to take their failed and criminal agenda
with
them. We must all now come to the
streets in our millions to show them that their attempt to steal our
democracy
has failed, and that we, the people, are now demanding that our
government
again stand with us in responding to the real priorities we must face
together. We are entering a challenging period ahead,
with oil running out and the impact of our environmental abuse about to
crash
down upon us. The world can’t wait for
this regime to continue to destroy our country and our chance for a
future that
will permit us to responsibly face these crises together.
This Tuesday night, 8:00 PM to 9:30 PM EST, in towns and cities
everywhere, I ask you to join with me, with your friends and your neighbors,
and come to the streets wherever you are as Bush offers us more of their failed
and destructive agenda, and show your determination to fight against this whole
direction they seek for our future. They are counting on our apathy and despair
to keep us in our place. Let your noisy protest alert the nation to the great
danger we face if we stand aside and allow them an uncontested pathway to more
of their unacceptable actions. Then,
this Saturday at 11:00 AM, join in marching with us around the White House and
delivering the message of the people of America: BUSH, STEP DOWN, AND TAKE YOUR PROGRAM WITH YOU!
Jim Oberg is a retired Engineer who lives in Wilsonville,
OR, with his wife and two cats, and is volunteering with the World Can’t Wait
movement to help mobilize the response to the terrible abuses of this
regime. He can be reached at worldcantwait2005@yahoo.com.
(For more information about the actions taking place around
the State of the Union address and how you can assist with this effort, go to
the worldcantwait.org website.)